Breaking Sports: Lights out-battle Orediggers

MSU-Northern's David Maddock (left) shoots over Montana Tech's A.J. Paine during Friday night's Frontier Conference men's basketball game in Havre.

The Montana State University-Northern men's basketball team already took one team's best shot in early Frontier Conference play. Friday night at the MSU-Northern Fieldhouse, the No. 13 Lights took another. Northern had tou battle hard, but the Lights won a defensive struggle, 62-52 over Montana Tech.

Despite making five 3-pointers in the first-half, and getting 16 points from LaVon Myers in the first 20 minutes, the Lights found themselves tied with the Orediggers 32-32 at intermission. And Tech would cease to go away.

Northern got a big lift from Sean Kelly, who scored the first six points of the second half, while Devin Jackson added a spark late in the game. Tech was still within six points with five minutes to play, but Jackson's second triple of the game, and Kelly's monsterous dunk with under two minutes to go finally gave the Lights enough of a cushion to put Tech away for good.

Myers finished with a season-high 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting, while Kelly chipped in with 13 points and five rebounds. Jackson added nine points and six board, while the Lights made 7-of-21 three's. They also held Tech to a season-low 52 points.

The win was Northern's 11th in a row. The Lights (2-0, 16-2) will go for number 12 on Saturday night when they host the No. 23 UM-Western Bulldogs in a huge conference game. Western beat UGF Friday night in Great Falls.

For complete coverage, see Monday's Havre Daily News.